Musings, observations, and written works from the publisher of Eckhartz Press, the media critic for the Illinois Entertainer, host of Minutia Men, and the writer of "The Living Wills", "$everance," "Just One Bad Century," "Father Knows Nothing," "The Radio Producer's Handbook," and "Records Truly Is My Middle Name"

Monday, November 14, 2016

Did you hear that Trump won?

Yes I did hear. I was in New Orleans (photos below), not Kenya. But thanks for the many e-mails and texts.

Obviously, if you're a reader of this blog, you know my feelings about the guy. I didn't vote for him. I think he has the potential to be a very bad (historically bad) president. But in January, he'll be sworn in as president, and I will have to accept that.

My facebook feed is full of Trump fans telling the majority of the country who didn't vote for him to stop whining and support the president immediately. When I suggested to one facebook friend that if the situation were reversed and Trump had won the popular vote, but not the presidency, it would have been a nationwide free-for-all, he told me that they would not be protesting at all.

I've decided to look on the bright side. For one thing, we (probably) won't have to go through four more years of Hillary investigations. The Republicans were already promising to destroy her. I don't think I could have handled another four years of that. Also, I'm hoping the gravity of the office forces Trump to rethink a few of his positions. I know that's a long shot, but stranger things have happened. He has to actually govern now. The first signs aren't terribly encouraging, but who knows?

I'll never forget the horrible things he has said, but I also won't hold it against my friends who voted for him. I know most of them are absolutely not racists, and have perfectly legitimate reasons for supporting Trump.

On the other hand, I'll also know that racism is not a deal breaker for them.

That's something they are going to have to live with, not me. I'm sure they have rationalized it in their minds in some way. These are not bad people.

But I do have one piece of advice for my Trump friends. Don't try to debate with me about whether or not you think Trump is a racist. That's a pointless debate. He is one. If someone says the things he has said over the past few years and isn't a racist, there is no such thing as racism.